Barkha Dutt – an icon of Indian broadcast media, a padma shri recipient and a 'war reporter' is a journalist I have grown to despise. She symbolizes the new breed of sensationalism that has become synonymous with much of the what passes off as 'news' in India.
Reporting is almost always melodramatic, ridden with emotional outbursts with no structure or thought given to the rapid diarrhoea of words during interviews and live reporting. This was most apparent during the Bombay terror attacks when victims and hostages are posed with plain daft and platitudinous questions such as "How do you feel? Are you distraught?". While this is the general quality of reporting, I find it amusing that reporters like Barkha Dutt are made out to be an exception to this wider incompetence, when in fact she is merely part of the pack, the only difference being that she participates in the trend with a conceited confidence. Objectivity is non-existent and live television is an opportunity to have emotional (read loud) outbursts of 'disaster' rhetoric, incoherent reports, garish on-screen chyrons, all of this synchronized with distasteful manufactured dramatic music.
As a native from Mumbai, I take pride in the sheer resilience of its people. It has been tested several times in the past through the '93 bombings, the communal riots, the deluge and the intermittent bombings. Yet, there is an inherent normalcy in the chaos that allows it to resurface almost immediately and move on. They define a new normal.
Yet, it amuses me to see all the news channels crying out "disaster" from their screens in their attempt to ruffle rationality and composure. Headlines like 'Warzone Mumbai', 'India at War', 'Another 9-11', 'Terror in India' makes every other tragedy in the past, however significant and catastrophic, seem inconsequential in a desperate attempt to log the maximum viewership of the day. It belittles personal tragedies and loses focus from the more important issues such as the absence of a response strategy or the vacuum of a command structure. Yet, Barkha Dutt and her breed of journalists choose to hound airtime and attention in an attempt to patronize their personal style of journalism and reporting, a profession that once used to pride itself for its objectivity and content.
6 comments:
Sure thing. Barkha's the next Ekta Kapoor in the making. !
Totally agree with that. Her craving for awards has certainly masked her humanity. Maybe NDTV would do far better minus Ms Mayhem.
Burkha belongs to a breed that supported China during the 63 war.what more can you expect?she has to live up to her Padmashre!
too Funny kgbhat, yep that b*tch s*cks..
Loud mouthed b*tch should be in the kitchen
Excellent post!
This article fully embodies my thoughts and anger about the coverage of sensationalism in Indian media during the Mumbai terror attacks.
As a layman, I was myself shocked that the news channels revealed the identity of the hostages. If the terrorist had any external contacts (through phone or TV), they could've used the information to their advantage.
Also I was sick of Barkha Dutta's public 'adalats'. She was hysterical and crying hoarse! Not at all a dignified behaviour by someone who is considered one of India's top journalists.
Junk journalism has beacome a part of journalism period, and not just Barkha! The fact that black water security personnel can kill civilians(with total immunity from law
), ask for prostitutes etc etc and no journalists are asking these questions rather the news is that public option is socialism, is what is catching headlines means that sensationlism sells and it is wide spread!!
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